Jacques Kallis has been confirmed as South Africa captain, in the absence of
the injured Graeme Smith, for tomorrow's NatWest Series match against
England at The Oval.

This morning, Smith had a meeting with surgeons to ascertain the prognosis on his tennis elbow problem, after which he was ruled out of the rest of the series.

Kallis has captained his country in seven one-day internationals since 2006, and said: "We have got to come up and play some good cricket,

"The pressure is on England to win the series. I think it's going to be a tough couple of games."

Meanwhile, England wicketkeeper Matt Prior believes the turnaround in fortunes for the hosts can be traced to a harder work ethic installed by coach Peter Moores and new captain Kevin Pietersen than there was in his previous spell in the England set-up a year ago.

"I noticed the difference from the first moment we turned up in Scotland and did a fielding drill, and straight away I noticed it was different," Prior said.

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"The energy, the buzz, the skill levels and the fitness of the guys was different, which is not saying it was bad when I was in the squad before but there has been an increase in intensity, definitely, and it's fantastic.

"I don't think it happens overnight, but it's down to a lot of hard work. I haven't been here for a while so I don't know what the talk has been like behind closed doors but I imagine the difference is down to hard work.

"It's something I have always believed in, that the harder you work, in the end you will get what you deserve, but it's not just about hard work, it's about being clever with it, working on specific skills that might make the difference in the game like hitting the stumps and things like that."

One of the main reasons England are looking such a threat is the return of Steve Harmison.

Harmison's pace has consistently put the South African batsmen on the back foot, but the Durham bowler has been forced to deny claims that money was the main reason behind his comeback, with the money-spinning Stanford Series due to start in October.

He said: "Everyone is talking about it saying he has come back for the money, but I have come back for cricketing.

"It feels like I've been criticised for everything, even for changing my socks. I've come back for cricketing reasons only.

"It was an interesting three or four days leading up to the series. I never thought I'd be anywhere near the games. I thought I'd be in Basingstoke.

"They asked me where I was going to be in the winter and then I got a phone call saying Ryan Sidebottom was injured and they needed somebody, so I said why not? I'd never let them down.

"It's not up to me if I play in the Stanford series. I made my feelings clear to the coach and captain."